Memorandum by the Superior School Authority – School Administration, November 24, 1938

Source Description

This ca. one pagelong memorandum written by the Hamburg school administration
authority and dated November 24,
1938 records a statement by Arthur Spier,
director of the Talmud Torah School and
the Israelitischer Gemeindeverband Hamburg'sAssociation of Israelite Communities in
Hamburg delegate for educational matters, on the Talmud Torah School’s
admission policy. This memorandum belongs to a series of memoranda written
by the school administration authority
documenting their conversations with Arthur Spier and the
situation of the Talmud Torah
School.

With regard to the school’s admission policy,
Spier states
that the Talmud Torah
School only admitted students of the Jewish faith according to
its by-laws. The decisive factor was a student’s belonging to the Jewish
faith, not membership in the Association of Israelite CommunitiesIsraelitischer Gemeindeverband. He
gives several examples to illustrate this point. Under the circumstances at
the time, however, the school was willing to admit all students – including
those who did not identify as Jewish – who were excluded from the public
schools based on the Nuremberg Laws. Children who belonged to another religion, such
as Christianity for example, were excluded from admission. The last
paragraph of the memorandum states that Spier had subsequently
revoked this restriction and that the school was now willing to admit
Christians – baptized “Jews” – while excusing them from religious education
classes. The memorandum is signed with the abbreviation “Sch.” Most likely
it stands for Studienrat
Schallehn of the school administration
authority.